Much to our good fortune, we are embarking on yet another new year when our blessings are too numerous to count. Our kids continue to blow our minds as they embrace life in their unique ways and show us true strength and originality, and our loved ones and friends are also persevering and inspiring, far and wide. Looking toward our future adventures, we are excitedly aware of vast treasures to come… and yet, today, these and other fantastic experiences from the past are what fuel my dreams.

Roger’s journal, June 13, 2016: The hike to Ram Head, Saint John Read more

All of this started playing out 16 years ago today – thought I’d bump it back to the top of this blog to rekindle the memories…

Escape from LA
by Roger Darnell

Wednesday, May 30, 2001: The Countdown Begins

As I sat at my desk at the end of the business day (night) on Tuesday, I knew I really needed to get some sleep to be ready to start loading the truck bright and early the next morning; surveying my office, though — still largely intact — it finally also sunk-in to me that I needed to get it packed, once and for all. Fast forward to 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning: I’d worked all the way through the night, the office was 98% done, the house was a scattered array of semi-packed boxes, furniture and closed boxes, all ready for the truck, and we were off to pick up the truck from Budget in Van Nuys on Sepulveda Blvd., the same place where we’d returned our truck from the 1998 move West. This truck was a little bigger — a sign that the move was a success? — and the car carrier, destined to transport our Honda Accord back across the country, may have been the same one we picked up from New Orleans on the previous trip. Beth had slept very little as well, so the recollection of truck-packing day is a little blurry. We were smart enough to request a couple of movers to come to our house at 9 to load the truck, and by 11, they were done. By 5 p.m., Read more

An original desktop calendar for May appears at the bottom of this post.

So far in life, we have only visited Saint John one time – it was our “vacation of vacations” last June, as you can read in other entries I’ve shared in the past. When I tell you that Beth and I are set to return this July, you probably won’t be very surprised. I don’t know how often we’ll make it there, but I’ve been pining away for the next trip since we booked it earlier this year. Read more